1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head cover structure of an engine and a suspension structure of the engine which is, for example, mounted on an automobile or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when mounting an engine on a vehicle, various optimum mounting arrangements in an up-down direction, a left-right direction, and a front-rear direction of a vehicle have been investigated in order to mount the engine in a stable manner. For example, it is well known that engine mounts (mounting members) for supporting an upper side and a lower side of the engine are configured to be arranged spaced from each other in a front-rear direction of the engine (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H06-313463 and Japanese Patent No. 3018867). In this case, it is known that it is possible to support the engine in a stable manner during travel of the vehicle in a case where the mounting members are separated from each other as much as possible in the up-down direction, in the left-right direction, and in the front-rear direction.
In order to mount the engine in a stable manner, for example, it is considered that a mounting member is mounted on a component disposed on an upper portion of the engine. However, a head cover constituting the upper portion of the engine is a rectangular component made of a thin plate member with a hollow inside thereof, and is vulnerable to a load in the up-down direction. Therefore, in order to support the engine which is a heavy object by the head cover, reinforcement such as forming a thick wall of the head cover is required, but there is a possibility to increase a weight of the engine if the wall of the head cover is reinforced to be thick.
Therefore, there is known a structure of mounting a mounting bracket on a timing chain cover, which is the same cover member as the head cover but has a fastening direction different from that of the head cover, and is able to be fastened to an engine body such as a cylinder block together with the head cover.
For example, in Japanese Patent No. 2758478, the timing chain cover (timing cover) is configured to be divided into three of a head cover portion, a cylinder head portion, and a cylinder body portion, and a stay is fixed to a side wall of the head cover portion constituting the timing chain cover. In Japanese Patent No. 2758478, a suspension structure of the engine, in which the head cover of the engine is fixed to a strut tower via the stay, is employed.
Further, Japanese Patent No. 4556921 discloses that on an upper surface of an upper extension portion of the timing chain cover (timing cover), a mounting bracket mounting seat, on which the mounting bracket for mounting the engine is mounted, is provided.
Furthermore, Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. H07-032914 discloses a cover structure of a V-type engine, in which a pair of banks (bank cylinders) is arranged in a V-shape. In the cover structure of the V-type engine which is disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. H07-032914, three covers are configured to be individually separated from one another. The three covers are composed of a cover for covering a front surface which is provided with a timing train of the cylinder block, a cover for covering a front surface of the cylinder head, and a head cover for covering an upper portion of the cylinder head.